Marcus Malbrough, Jordan Garrett, Blake Chavis, Jacody Coleman, and Billy Chavis are all former West Brook football players that have left Division 1 colleges to play for Lamar University. Tammy McKinley/The Enterprise less

Marcus Malbrough, Jordan Garrett, Blake Chavis, Jacody Coleman, and Billy Chavis are all former West Brook football players that have left Division 1 colleges to play for Lamar University. Tammy McKinley/The ... more

Photo: TAMMY MCKINLEY

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Marcus Malbrough, Jordan Garrett, Blake Chavis, Jacody Coleman, and Billy Chavis are all former West Brook football players that have left Division 1 colleges to play for Lamar University. Tammy McKinley/The Enterprise less

Marcus Malbrough, Jordan Garrett, Blake Chavis, Jacody Coleman, and Billy Chavis are all former West Brook football players that have left Division 1 colleges to play for Lamar University. Tammy McKinley/The ... more

Photo: TAMMY MCKINLEY

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Lamar is home again for many former Bruins

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Marcus Malbrough left home with visions of Big 12 championships and national television appearances.

He experienced some of that. But now he is back home to be closer to an ailing mother and grandmother.

"My moving back home was a family decision," said Malbrough, who left Missouri after three seasons at the school.

Malbrough is the fifth former West Brook player to transfer to play on Lamar's football team after attending or signing with another four-year school.

All five players left home with visions of playing on some of college football's biggest stages. The decision to come home and play at a smaller school required plenty of thought.

"I think anybody taking a step from a big university to a smaller school goes through that," said Blake Chavis, who signed with Texas A&M out of high school but attended junior college and transferred to Arkansas State.

"When I left Arkansas State to go here, I spent at least two weeks every night wondering what Lamar is going to be like, wondering if I made the right decision."

Chavis' older brother, Billy, had similar thoughts when he left Texas A&M after two seasons, after Mike Sherman replaced Dennis Franchione as head coach. Chavis wanted to play.

"Football is football," Chavis said. "You can dominate on any level. In order for you to dominate, you have to play. By us transferring down from a Division I program to Division I-AA, at the end of the day, it didn't have at lot to do with it because football is football."